The enemy stood about four feet apart from each other as they looked for the cause of the noise in the trees. Archie sneaked out of his hiding place, and after three steps, he found himself directly behind the Grey to the left of the pair. With a single swipe of the Katana, the bulbous head of the alien left its body and fell to the ground. In the same movement, Archie pivoted on his right foot, spinning towards the second Grey, who had been alerted by the thud of his comrades’ head hitting the floor. It started to bring his right hand up, but it was too late as Archie’s blade made easy work of taking the appendage clean off. The alien began to raise its other arm over his abdomen, and as it did so, the belly began to glow, as though it was generating energy. Archie was still swirling the sword, bringing it back over, and taking off the aliens other hand above the wrist. The glow vanished instantly, as the Grey dropped to its knees. The realisation of imminent death caused him to try to scramble away, but it wasn’t going to happen. One final swipe and it was over, another head was rolling along the road.
Not a bad buy, that, Archie thought as he cleaned off the blade of the sword and looked over the scene. Without wasting any time, he dragged the bodies off the road and into the treeline. Once he had recovered the M4 and the thermal, he motioned for Blondie to move up and join him. He couldn’t help but be amused as he watched the Pleiadian run, squat, run, squat as he tried to find cover on his way forward. He looked like a giant, demented rabbit.
“I smell Reticulans,” Blondie whispered as he reached the trees. Archie gave him a nod, and Blondie’s eyes followed the direction, where he saw the two decapitated bodies. “That is wrong on many levels,” he said as he realised that Archie had stuffed the fingers from the severed hands into the small nasal cavities of the dead Greys.
“I thought you’d like that,” Archie whispered back. “Come on, follow me.”
They moved out of cover and crossed the road and entered the trees opposite. Slowly, they started heading towards the village, but they had only travelled about fifty feet before the world around them seemed to erupt. Tracer and laser fire were flying all around them, and Archie could hear shouts of commands from enemy soldiers as well as hisses and roars from… something - reptilians, he presumed.
“Return fire!” Archie shouted.
The night sights were a godsend as he opened up on the enemy. He dropped two almost straight away. He noticed that Blondie wasn’t messing around either, as he picked his shots. The trouble was, his aim was crap with the rifle. He would run out of ammunition quickly, and Archie didn’t have time to fuck about trying to feed him magazines.
“Use your remote thingy,” Archie shouted, “but don’t lose the rifle. Sling it over your back.” It made sense for the Pleiadian to use the weapon that he was most familiar with.
“You take the humans, and I will take the Draco,” Blondie called back as he dumped the holdall and started blasting away with the remote.
The incoming rounds were stitching the ground and tree trunks. Mud was being kicked up, and leaves were falling all around them. Archie was getting smothered in crap. BANG! He found himself flying through the air. He landed on the grass verge beside the road. Shaking himself out of his daze, he realised he hadn’t been shot, but rather that he had been hit by a person or an animal. There, a Dracoderos; another one of those dragon things! Shit! Shit! Shit! Where’s the rifle? Where’s the rifle? He couldn’t find it, and the massive animal was almost on him. There was nothing else to do but pull out the Tanto as it lunged at him.
He forced the blade up and through the underside of its jaw and kept pushing. The animal pulled away, but Archie kept stabbing and withdrawing. He was panicking, badly; stab, pull, repeat. Eventually, the creature fell onto its side, but its legs were still trying to run, and Archie wasn’t sure if it was the animals’ death throes or if it was still trying to kill him. Whatever the case, it was about to die. Archie brought the blade to its neck and started slicing, almost severing its head before it finally stopped moving. I’m not on the fucking menu!
The rate of incoming fire increased, bringing Archie back to the present as the situation around him intensified. Jumping back into the cover of the trees, he found the M4. Picking it up, he shouldered the weapon, and started firing again. Another one down, change the mag, fire…
It was evident the pair were not going to be able to fight through the enemy lines, and the cover they were in was pitiful. They needed a way out, but Archie was still in panic mode. He slowed his breathing from rapid, shallow breaths to long deep ones and felt calmer almost immediately. While Blondie provided covering fire, Archie picked up the thermal and looked around to see if he could get a better picture of the battlefield. The human enemy was still about seventy – maybe a hundred yards away, it was hard to tell through the imager. But it seemed as though the distance was far enough to buy them a little bit of time, providing they could keep up the covering fire. Looking to the right, into the field, Archie noticed a jeep that looked as though it had a machine gun turret on the roof. That’ll do!
“Give me your rifle,” he shouted to Blondie, who was dropping the Draconians like they were fish in a barrel as he fired like a man possessed. When he handed the weapon over, Archie changed the mag and set it to full auto and laid it next to the Pleiadian. “Use this too - fire both weapons. Don’t worry too much about hitting anything – just create a distraction. I’m going for that jeep.”
Through the sight, Archie could see that there were two soldiers in the vehicle; one on the turret, and one in the driver’s seat. Picking his shot carefully, he dropped the driver with ease. He slid the Katana down the back of his jacket, and moved back up the treeline, about thirty yards in the general direction from which they had come. There was a small ditch that ran around the circumference of the Henge that would give him a bit of cover on his approach to the jeep.
Blondie opened up with both weapons, immediately drawing the attention of the jeeps gunner, who started firing into the trees where the Pleiadian was hidden. Slowly, carefully, Archie belly crawled over the crest of the ditch and lined the gunner up in his sights. The weight of fire he was putting into the treeline where Blondie was creating the distraction was massive, and Archie could tell that either the big man was hit, or he had his head down because his fire had slowed to nothing. As the shooting from the jeep continued, Archie took the shot; single fire, one round, in the guy’s face. He knew he had finished him as he slumped over the back of the turret.
Scrambling to his feet, he started running towards the vehicle. He got to within about twenty feet, when he heard a roar coming from his right. Turning to face it, he had to dive out of the way as the thing ran straight for him. It was another Dracoderos, only this one was bigger, much bigger, and it looked nastier, with huge saliva covered teeth and massive horns with ridges on its head. It looked like a cross between a rhinoceros and a dinosaur – Rhinosaur!
Getting to his feet, he realised that the M4 had got caught around his back, so he reached over his shoulder and gripped the handle of the Katana and pulled it out, still in its scabbard. Drawing the sword out of the covering revealed its shiny, razor sharp blade. No sooner had he completed the manoeuvre, did the Rhinosaur start galloping towards him.
Don’t get it wrong! Don’t get it wrong! He thought as the thundering footsteps got closer and closer. Archie could hear it snorting as it breathed. It seemed to take forever for the thing to get to him, but in reality, it took no more than a second or two before it lunged, with its jaws extended to take a bite. In the same instant, Archie sidestepped, turned the blade so that the sharp side faced the sky, and lifted it upward aggressively into the underside of the animals’ neck as it passed. The moment he felt contact, Archie pulled the blade towards him, slicing deep and hard into its throat. In the same movement, he pivoted away as though he was a bullfighter, and as the blade came free, he dived into a rolling break-fall away from it.
Coming to his feet, he turned and faced the creature, it was bleedi
ng heavily, but it wasn’t finished. Archie held the sword high and waited for the next opportunity to strike. The wait wasn’t a long one, as the Rhinosaur charged him again. This time it was closer, and within a few steps, it was on him. Archie sidestepped again, this time to the left, and brought the blade down across the back of its neck. The creature slumped to the ground; its spinal cord severed. It was down, but not yet dead. The thing was still breathing through the blood-filled blade slits in its throat, but at least the only thing it could move now, was its mouth and jaws - it wasn’t going anywhere.
Slipping the sword back into its scabbard after flicking off the blood, he returned his attention to the jeep. The stench of death was awful as he opened the door; the aroma of shit and blood filled the air within the confines of the vehicle. Getting in, Archie realised there wasn’t a turret at all, the gunner had been standing through the sunroof firing a machine gun. As he pulled the dead guy back into the car, he noticed there was a weapon wedged between the driver’s legs. Touching it gave him the flash; H & K 417, 7.62mm, 20inch barrel with sound moderator or silencer, folding bipod, 20 round magazine, and telescopic night sight. I’ll have that, he thought as he searched the driver for spare mags.
Now that he had pulled the gunner into the vehicle, he searched him as well, taking his FN 5.56mm Minimi Light Machine Gun, LMG. The ammunition for this weapon was box fed. 13.7inch barrel, collapsible stock, with a standard NATO night sight. At 700-850 rounds per minute, this thing could deliver some serious firepower. He took the two additional boxes of ammo as well.
After lightening the jeeps load of anything that could be of use, Archie got out and realised that the fighting had stopped. He initially hoped that Blondie had won the day, but it became evident that he was gravely mistaken. Looking through the scope of the 417, he could see that a particularly large Draconian was holding the Pleiadian in the air by his neck, as though the Pleiadian was some kind of trophy.
Archie felt panic, threatening to overwhelm him as he looked around. He was desperately trying to figure out what to do. If they had Blondie, they would find him soon after. He had to do something, and quickly. Looking back at the jeep, he noticed that the ground sloped downward and away behind the vehicle. That gave him an idea. He set up LMG next to the back wheel and started watching what was going on through the scope.
The reptile was still lifting the Pleiadian by the neck and was shaking him, as though he was trying to throttle him. At the same time, four other Draconians emerged from their hiding place and moved in towards them. From the right, human soldiers did the same thing, although they were running.
“HE’S OURS, HE’S OURS – PUT HIM DOWN DRACONIAN!” One of the humans ordered as he moved up to the reptile.
“NO HUMAN – THIS CREATURE IS MINE!” The lizard wanted his prize badly and wasn’t about to give him up so easily.
“FUCK OFF – put him down, NOW!” This human was clearly in charge, and he wasn’t taking no for an answer. “We have our orders. He is coming with us for interrogation.”
“NOOO! I care not for your orders… he is MINE!” The relationship between these two factions wasn’t good; that suited Archie, it might work in his favour.
The Draco were all snarling as the human force stepped forward, surrounding the reptiles and lifting their weapons. The human commander was saying something, but Archie couldn’t make out what. It looked to him as though there could be trouble between the two groups, so he flicked the safety off on the LMG and waited. This was going to end badly for everyone that stood around the Pleiadian. If they didn’t kill each other, Archie would do it for them.
“Fucking put him down now you scaly bastard! I will not…” The human never got to finish his sentence as the Draconian sideswiped him with his free hand.
In the same instant, the Draco warriors opened up on their human counterparts. It became a free for all, as both sides started shooting at each other. After a moment, Archie opened up with the Minimi LMG, but the problem was, he couldn’t quite get the accuracy to hit the lizard holding Blondie. He quickly switched to the 417… POP, POP. He hit reptile right in the side of the head with two rounds in quick succession. It didn’t kill him, but it was enough for him to drop the Pleiadian. Blondie was running back to the treeline before his feet even touched the ground. Archie switched back to the LMG to cover his retreat and opened up on full auto. The rate of fire being spat from the LMG was immense as Archie poured lead into the maelstrom.
He knew that the big man was back in position when the light blasts started shooting out and into the melee as the two factions tried to kill each other. For several moments the humans and the Draco were so focused on each other that they didn’t realise there was a third faction putting rounds into both groups. However, it didn’t take long for them to figure out that another party was taking advantage of their lack of discipline and started to turn their attention to Archie and the Pleiadian.
The enemy’s targeting of Archie was excellent – they knew exactly where he was, and their rounds were thudding into the ground around him and pinging off of the jeep. He knew that he couldn’t stay where he was. Staying as low to the ground as he could, he started pushing himself backwards, down the small gradient to the back of the vehicle. That shielded him from the incoming fire. Facing the enemy position from there, he made his way left using the incline for cover until he reached the Rhinosaur. The thing still wasn’t dead and had enough energy left in him to snarl and try to turn its head for a bite. Archie pulled the Tanto from his pocket and stuck it through the chin and straight into its brain and twisted the blade, hard. He had to repeat the action three times before the thing would finally succumb to its injuries.
Back at the treeline, Blondie was still at it, blasting away like crazy as Archie got himself into a good firing position. He switched back to the 417 and started popping off rounds at the human ranks. They hadn’t realised that he had moved and were still shooting at the jeep. It only took a few minutes to finish them off, but it felt like the firefight had been raging for hours.
Archie got to his feet and ran back to the ditch before making his way back to the treeline, where Blondie had retaken his position, just as the Pleiadian took down the last of the Draconian’s. The look on the big man’s face made Archie laugh aloud.
“Welcome to Earth big boy,” he said as he dived into cover.
“Honestly, I thought we were dead men,” Blondie said through panted breaths. “I thought you had been killed and I was going to be food for the Dracoderos.”
“Not tonight, mate.” Archie was displaying bravado. It was his way of dealing with stressful situations. He would either laugh at a problem or brush it off as no big thing. This method had allowed him to keep his head while others lost theirs countless times. “They need to seriously up their game if they’re going to take us out!” He couldn’t help himself as he continued laughing at the We’re gonna die look on Blondie’s face.
At that moment, there was an almighty clap of thunder from above that caused Archie to look up. He saw the clouds flickering with lightning… deep purple lightning. He’d never seen anything like it before.
“Look at that!” Archie exclaimed.
“We need to go… now!” Blondie said sternly. “NOW, ARCHIE – NOW!”
Archie wondered what the Pleiadian was getting all excited about until he saw the underside of a sizeable Draconian Dart breaching through the cloud cover. It was vastly larger than the ones he had seen at the lake. On the ground, he spotted more soldiers coming through the field. Oh, so that’s why he’s all worked up!
“Fuck it, come on, let’s get out of here; back the way we came,” Archie said, realising there was nothing else they could do but run.
The weight he was carrying was an absolute nightmare, and as they ran East through the field, Archie was breathing through his arse – and not for the first time in the last few days. He struggled to keep his footing in the slick mud and kept falling and stumbling. This is bollocks, he
thought as he muddled on. The only consolation he saw was that the journey back to the people carrier was a lot faster without the need to be tactical, they just had to get out of the area – sharpish!
He wanted to stop and catch his breath so badly that the only thing that kept him going was the knowledge that the enemy was so close behind, and they were not best pleased that Archie and his Pleiadian friend had killed their comrades. He also knew that stopping now would only serve to increase the likelihood of being spotted by the alien ship. No, they couldn’t stop and fight, they had to get away while they still could.
After finally making it back to the motor and throwing the gear inside, Archie looked up to see that the massive ship was holding station, just inside the cloud. Jumping into the driver’s seat, he asked Blondie what it was.
“It is a Draconian Battle Cruiser,” he said. “Very, very dangerous. The general rule is that; if you have any doubt of being able to destroy it, you do not instigate a fight with it.”
“Battle Cruiser – check - don’t fuck with it – check. Now shut the fucking door and let’s go!” Archie said, spinning the wheel to full lock and turning the vehicle around, heading back the way they had come, before flooring the pedal.
16
Avebury
Wiltshire
England
“Sorry you couldn’t get back to your people, mate,” Archie spoke loudly, to be heard over the noise of the screaming engine, as he pushed the accelerator to the floor.
“It is not your fault, Archie. In fact, I am just glad we made it out alive. I honestly thought you had been killed. Besides, there was no way we could have fought them all off while we waited for pick up. To even attempt it would have been suicidal,” Blondie replied.
“What now?” asked Archie.
“We must go to the other Circle,” Blondie said.
Pleiadian Rescuer Page 17
